FiberQA Blog

FiberQA’s sales and customer support team recently concluded a 10-day tour visiting with current and potential clients in China and Thailand. The team listened to the issues concerning optical connector quality control, and helped provide potential solutions to assist and improve companies in the Asian market. Joe Salemi (Manager of Commercial Sales) says, "There were five main issues that were raised over and over again at each stop along the way. We discussed how our FastMT and AVIT systems could help solve all of these problems when incorporated into their quality control process." Continue reading to learn what the TOP FIVE quality control issues are. 

1. Inspection Repeatability.

Easily the biggest quality control issue is inspection repeatability. When vendors and customers can’t rely on the test results of their inspection scope, they have to resort to fiber experts who use a live view or manual scope to test each connector by eye sight, which is a highly variable and subjective practice. Inconsistent test results lead to a breakdown in trust between the vendor and customers in addition to the time, labor, and training burden. FiberQA’s robotic inspection and cleaning systems use automated software that is highly repeatable and implements test targets to calibrate and verify the systems’ performance, removing subjectivity from inspection and cleaning altogether using software that is certifiably reliable.

2. Achieving production growth goals while meeting the new demand on quality control and increasing inspection and cleaning capability.

FiberQA’s robotic systems only require minimal, low level operation, limiting the additional cost of training when scaling quality control. A single technician can operate multiple AVIT systems at one time since the systems themselves conduct the entire inspect/clean cycle for dozens of ferrules at a time. 

3. Integrated cleaning reduces process steps and minimizes risk of damage.

Every time a human handles a part, it costs both time and money and increases the possibility of part damage and recontamination. AVIT systems use precision-tuned robotics to greatly reduce these risks; inspecting and cleaning dozens of ferrules at once, without being removed and re-inserted multiple times.

4. Document control for warranty of parts has become a requirement for many customers.

Reporting can be labor intensive and time consuming, as well as lacking in detailed information. Without image or data archiving, reports cannot be verified or expanded upon. FiberQA’s software programs archive both the test results and images (with and without overlays) as well as print customized reports down to the fiber. Parts and reports can be barcoded and scanned for easy record maintenance and lookup.

5. Lastly, companies are concerned with controlling high consumable cleaner costs which are difficult to predict.

The largest hurdle in predicting and capping this runaway cost is being able to determine a true cost per clean ferrule. The number of clicks or cleans per ferrule when using a manual cleaner is not controllable and not easy to track. Robotic cleaning available in every AVIT system uses a calculated and consistent pressure and application of the cleaner, providing a more consistent and effective clean every time. AVIT software can also be customized to set the maximum number of cleans before an ultimate fail, giving companies complete control over their consumable costs.

Are these the same issues your company or supply chain is experiencing with quality control? What other problems are you facing that have not been addressed by currently available systems, or aren’t being addressed well enough? Comment below or contact our sales team to discuss possible solutions.